Reading · Savour Every Moment: Kelownagurl's Slow Travel Diaries

Wednesday, May 14 was probably one of our best days so far, as we took advantage of the blue skies and went on a road trip to the Garfagnana (GAR-fa-NYA-na) region, about an hour north of Lucca.

And how did we accomplish this without a car you ask? Well, we could have taken the train for about 12€ each return and had an enjoyable time, but lucky for us, our friend Jan, who owns the apartment, offered to take us for a drive in his cute little electric Beemer, and we were so appreciative!

Erik and Jan taking a photo of me taking a photo of them

There’s nothing better than touring around an area with someone who actually lives there so when Jan picked us up at 9:30 am, we were off on an adventure! Our final destination was the beautiful, hilly town of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, but we had several other stops to make along the way.

Although Lucca sits on a flat plain (which is one of the reasons I love biking here), it is surrounded by green rolling hills. You don’t have to drive for very long before you are winding up in the mountains. Some of the roads are narrow, but on this day we took major roads so it was two lanes all the way. Easy for me to say, I wasn’t driving, I was just enjoying the scenery!

This photo taken of the mountains north of Lucca can be found at Adobe Stock https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=&token_type=bearer&expires_in=86399&asset_id=97688979

Much of the trip followed the Serchio River, which we had ridden along a few days before, and our first stop was at Ponte Del Diavolo, or Devil’s Bridge. This much-photographed landmark is one I’ve long wanted to visit. It’s not easy to access by train, so this was finally our chance to see it.

No one is completely sure when this beautiful footbridge was built, but some believe it dates back as early as 1046, with reconstruction work and some of the additional arches built in the 1200-1300s. It is quite distinctive, with one large high arch and three smaller ones, and so of course we had to get out of the car and walk across.

Ponte del Diavolo, the Devil’s Bridge, dates back to 1046.

Its real name is Ponte della Maddalena, but locally it is known as the Devil’s Bridge, thanks to an old legend. As the story goes, the builder was having trouble constructing this challenging bridge, so he made a pact with the Devil, offering to give up the soul of the first living being to cross it. The Devil agreed, but when the bridge was finished, the builder tossed a piece of focaccia across, and a dog ran over to snatch it, foiling the Devil’s evil plan. It’s a fun story but I did feel sorry for the dog.

The arch on this side of the footbridge is for the train with the tracks seen in the foreground. The smoke was created by a local who was burning a huge pile of green bamboo he’d just cleared from the side of his property. *cough cough*

Back into the car for a little side trip to Bagni di Lucca which translates to Baths of Lucca. We turned east off the main highway and were now driving along the Lima River to reach this lovely little town. It’s a very popular spa town ,but we managed to find a parking spot and walked along the streets for a bit, before finding a bar where I could use the bathroom and the boys could have an excuse to down a quick beer.

Bagni di Lucca is best known for its thermal baths, which date back thousands of years but we didn’t really have time to explore them. Instead, we opted only to walk around the town to get a feel for the place. We may return someday and stay overnight at one of the spa hotels.

I was surprised to find I didn’t actually take any photos there for reason, although I did snag one of this “bottle” of Italian organic gin behind the bar, which caught my eye and made me laugh — ENGINE.

We had a quick birra here at Bar Roma and they had quite a large collection of gin.

We were soon back in the car headed for Castelnuovo and as we drove, the roads became steeper and windier. We were quite glad Jan was driving, although I suspect the cars behind us weren’t, since he was often more interested in chatting with us, than keeping up with the speed limit. Better than a crazy-fast Italian driver I guess!

The area is stunningly beautiful, with gorgeous new vistas at every turn but in another thirty minutes or so, we had arrived. I don’t know why it’s called Castelnuovo (new castle) because that castle looks anything but new to me.

Jan and Erik enter the first arched walkway into the old town

Dating back to around 700 AD, the town slowly grew and became quite important by the Middle Ages, with a number of castles and other fortifications. The oldest part of town is within the ancient but crumbling walls, and it was so beautiful that the few hours we had to visit did not do it justice.

Dating back to around 700 AD, the town slowly grew and became important by the Middle Ages, with a number of castles and other fortifications. The oldest part of town is within the ancient but crumbling walls, and it was so beautiful that the few hours we had to visit didn’t do it justice.

The river flows through the town, with several beautiful bridges, and lovely buildings climbing up the hills on both sides. We stopped for a lunch of pasta and beer at a nice little place with great service and good food. And then sadly, it was already 2:30 pm and we had to get back to our car and head back home.

Thunder clouds were gathering, and we already felt a few drops as we hurriedly returned to the parking lot. Once we were back on the road, we left the storm behind, and we were back to sunny Lucca by about 4 pm.

Erik and I definitely didn’t get enough of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana and we wouldn’t mind taking the train there again one day to spend a few more hours. or maybe even a one night stay, so we can explore the area more fully.

Road Trip

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